It opens in September 2017 and will contain an appropriate sized 3400 seat venue for basketball with seating all around the court like we've all been wanting and a cozy 500 seat venue for volleyball. LOVE IT! On our way to becoming a mid-major basketball power for years to come! Eat your heart out Davidson and College of Charleston! Maybe now we attract some more good non-conference opponents to Spartanburg too!

I think they should call it "field house." I dislike the Duke-sounding reference.

Also, and this probably sounds like I'm a downer, but I hope there will be some lower level general admission seats. I fear that if all the lower level seats are for reserved (excepting student, I would guess) then it could take away from the atmosphere a little.

I suspect the facility will have a major impact on out basketball program. We have had 3 SoCon championships playing in the BenJo and Mike Young had done a great job recruiting despite the facilities, but my concern has been that when he leaves, can we find someone else who can recruit to the BenJo? Recruiting players to come to the JRIS should be easier. What is even better is that we don't have to share the arena.

The key to long-term success will be filling the seats. Mr. Richardson's gift is well-appreciated, but we will need to sell tickets to bring in enough revenue to pay our coaches well-enough to be mid-major contenders. We also need to build up community support before our neighbors up I-585 upgrade their facilities.

When I look at the pictures and design, it looks like there is some openness around the lower level, which may seem to make it less noisy. I would like to see it more closed off to entrap the noise. The size is great, but it has to retain the noise to make it more effective and give us more of a home court advantage

"Ultimately, you are not defined by your height, weight, or speed; you'll be defined by your heart, you'll be defined by your passion." Coach Mike Ayers

walliver wrote:I suspect the facility will have a major impact on out basketball program. We have had 3 SoCon championships playing in the BenJo and Mike Young had done a great job recruiting despite the facilities, but my concern has been that when he leaves, can we find someone else who can recruit to the BenJo? Recruiting players to come to the JRIS should be easier. What is even better is that we don't have to share the arena.

The key to long-term success will be filling the seats. Mr. Richardson's gift is well-appreciated, but we will need to sell tickets to bring in enough revenue to pay our coaches well-enough to be mid-major contenders. We also need to build up community support before our neighbors up I-585 upgrade their facilities.

We need to send a message to our neighbors up I-585 by playing and dominating them every year...so everyone will see first hand how much better our program is.

The word I got this morning from someone in the know is that there will be a number of athletic offices and locker rooms in JRIS. The clear implication was there may be more sports in JRIS than just bball and volleyball. Giving rise to the comment by Art V, that we may be surprised by the scope of the building and how it will be used. Hmmmmm, might there be changes coming to Gibbes in terms of a team entrance from JRIS?

Ruckus wrote:The word I got this morning from someone in the know is that there will be a number of athletic offices and locker rooms in JRIS. The clear implication was there may be more sports in JRIS than just bball and volleyball. Giving rise to the comment by Art V, that we may be surprised by the scope of the building and how it will be used. Hmmmmm, might there be changes coming to Gibbes in terms of a team entrance from JRIS?

As long as we keep the grass and don't put down a plastic field for a lacrosse team (a lacrosse team is inevitable, but we need to keep the grass).